ETHIOPIA: Northern Operations Africa 2016

[sierraone]

Good luck Hank! Wish I could take off that long!

After two more months, I could take off that long or longer!!! But the final tab would be a bit, make that a lot more than I could handle. But what an adventure Hank is looking forward to!!!

 

[sierraone]

I

Those who have read my previous hunt reports may well have wondered how these things could be any longer. Well, wonder no more. They can become longer because I've decided to start from the beginning, before the hunt! Anyone unhappy with this development can take it up with @BRICKBURN, who gave me the idea.

Some of you might recall (from my hunt report) that in April of this year I returned from a hunt for nocturnal species in the Limpopo region of South Africa. That was not the “real” hunt for 2016 (that’s my story). The actual, "real" hunt for 2016 was always going to be a hunt for Mountain Nyala, which I booked some two years ago. Departure date for that hunt is November 2, 2016. This is about that hunt.

So, from the top. Why Mountain Nyala? Simple. I am overly goal oriented. I decided a long time ago that I was unlikely ever to hunt rhino, so the big five, as a goal, was out of the question (even though I have the other four). I have nothing against rhino - in fact, I find those I have come across in the wild so placid, generally, that I imagine shooting one would be something like shooting a cow. Now, I have only seen white rhino in the wild, and I’m (reliably, I think) informed that black rhino are an entirely different matter (reading Ron Thomson's stories about these animals makes your hair stand on end!). But black rhino hunts are few and far between, and I could have any number of safaris for the cost of one such hunt. So rhino, and the Big 5, are out.

It took me two safaris in Zimbabwe to shoot a kudu. I was almost desperate to get one. I was excited when I finally did connect, although it happened so fast that I had no time to really enjoy the hunt. Oddly, perhaps, but that isn't what started me on a quest for the nine spiral horned antelope. As beautiful as a kudu undoubtedly is, it was a bushbuck which I shot in the Matetsi area of Zimbabwe on my third safari which got me hooked on the spiral horns. These are beautiful animals, as fierce as the kudu is timid, and I think, the more difficult of the two animals to hunt.

One of the advantages - or disadvantages, depending on your perspective - to hunting the spiral horned antelope is that you will need to visit more countries in Africa than you would for the Big 5. Not all of those countries will be as congenial as South Africa (all things are relative!), but they will be interesting.

So far I have picked up all of the spiral horned except some of the tough ones. I still need the Mountain Nyala, the lesser kudu and the Lord Derby eland.

That explains the Mountain Nyala. And that also explains the destination. The only country where Mountain Nyala can be hunted is Ethiopia, and fortunately, that country also offers the lesser kudu, so I hope to kill two antelope with one . . .er, stone, as it were, on this upcoming hunt.

This wasn't an easy decision. Ethiopia as a hunting destination leaves much to be desired, and were it not for the Mountain Nyala, I very much doubt that many people would choose to hunt there. The government knows they have something special, and they use that knowledge to squeeze the most money possible from hunters. This is done in a number of ways.

First, the government specifies the length of the hunt. To shoot a Mountain Nyala requires that the hunt be at least 16 days, and if you add on a leopard, you increase the length of time of the safari. And then if you add on still other species in different areas, you add time. My safari is required to be 30 days, since I have added the lesser kudu, which is found in an entirely different part of the country. Secondly, they charge high trophy fees for the unique species - the Mountain Nyala itself is $15,000. Thirdly, the trophy fees are payable in advance, and are not refundable if you are unsuccessful. Fourthly, because of the advance payment requirement, you can't add animals as you go. It's the non-refundable nature of the trophy fees which I find the most egregious. As a result, though, you don't complain about a long safari. I have no intention of going home empty handed.

Another result of this system - for good or bad - is that you know in advance what you’re looking for, and you won't deviate from that, regardless of temptation.

My trophy list is as follows:

Mountain Nyala: Because it's the main goal of the safari.

Lesser kudu: Because that's the secondary main goal of the safari.

Leopard: These are not importable into the US, but are into Canada, so I'm told they aren't hunted much. Apparently there are some big ones. My first - and only - leopard was more or less ruined when the ungrateful beast charged us, not once, but twice. After as many rounds of buckshot and bullets as it took, the skin wasn't worth using for anything other than to fix the patches on a head mount! I have promised my PH no charges this time, even though I actually found it quite exciting!

Sommerings Gazelle: Because I've never hunted gazelle, and I don't expect to be back.

Salt's Dik-dik: I need only a couple of species to finish the Tiny Ten (Suni and Sharpe's Grysbok). This won't help with that, but I very much enjoy hunting the little guys.

Baboons: there are three or four types in Ethiopia, some of which are expensive (Galada: $3,000) while others (Anubis: $100) are not. I will try for the ones which are not expensive. Can't see myself starting a baboon collection anyway.

So that's it, unless I can add a hyena. Not a lot for 30 days (by my past standards!), but should give me a reasonable chance of success. Provided I shoot straight.

I think this is going to require a three volume set for the hunting report!

 

[Hank2211]

I

I think this is going to require a three volume set for the hunting report!

If it goes that long - and it well might - everyone can look to you for having originated this excellent idea!

 

[rinehart0050]

Best of luck Hank! I always enjoy your reports.

Best of luck on the hunt- who knows what sort of adventures you'll have over 30 days in Ethiopia!

 

[Philip Glass]

Enjoy a wonderful safari. Can't wait to hear of the Nyala hunt!
Philip

 

[AZDAVE]

Good luck Hank, may the Goddess of the hunt smile on you. looking forward to your report.

 

[Hank2211]

Vol. 2

Before getting on to some mechanical issues involved with this (or frankly almost any) hunt, I should add that I paid the trophy fees today, and I added a hyena to the list. Apparently the chances of success are "high", but more importantly, the trophy fee was $180. This is the only bargain I have found in hunting Ethiopia.

Oh, and for those of you who might be wondering, there is no mention of captive lion hunting anywhere in this thread, and hopefully no ethical questions arise!

Now, on to some of the mechanical issues.

Outfitter Selection. This was relatively easy. There are a relatively small number of outfitters operating in Ethiopia, and I quickly whittled the list down to two: Rift Valley Safaris (Jason Roussos) and Northern Operations Africa (Dave Rademeyer). I researched both online, reviewing hunt reports on The Hunt Report, as well as elsewhere. Both got high marks. I then spoke to both at the SCI show, and again, both got high marks. Costs were similar if not identical. I was a bit more comfortable with Dave Rademeyer, just because my booking agent, who is also a friend and a Zim PH, knew Dave, and would be coming along on the hunt. As a result, if there were any issues, he felt they would be more easily resolved. That was good enough for me, and I went ahead and booked with Northern Operations. Without the personal recommendation, I’m not sure how I would have decided between the two.

Visa. I need a visa to go to Ethiopia. Apparently, you can get these at the airport in Addis Ababa when you land, but my experience of African countries is that you should try (hard) to minimize your interactions with authority. So I have sent my passport to the Ethiopian Embassy in Ottawa and hope they send it back. Ethiopian visas have a limited duration, so you can’t apply at any time and sit on it. This tourist visa is good for 90 days, which means I have to be in and out by 90 days from the date of issue. Update: I just recently got my passport back from the Ethiopian Embassy, so I’m good to go here.

Med-Evac. I needed to renew my med-evac plan. I’ve used Global Rescue in the past and have never had a chance to test them out. Hopefully that continues. But I renewed with them anyway.

Optics: Taking my Leica Geovid HD-B 10x42 binos. These have a rangefinder, which will be important if I have to take longer shots on the Nyala.

The rifle has a Swarovski Z6i 1.7 - 10 x 42 scope. If I had a 2-12, I’d probably take that, but I’m not really a long-range shooter. I try to limit myself to 200 yards and 300 is about as far as I’m likely to shoot . . . or so I hope! I think my record is somewhere around 400, but that’s not something I want to try very often or on expensive trophies.

Rifle. This one was easy. I’m taking my newish (delivered in late 2015) Martini Gunmakers custom-made .300 Win Mag.

I’ve thought long and hard about whether I should relate this next bit, but I’ve decided that there’s likely a lesson to be learned, if anyone reading is as stupid as I am. If you qualify, please raise your hand.

When I got back from the nocturnal hunt in April 2016 (report submitted), which was the maiden voyage for the rifle, I set out to clean it. All was going well, and I was pretty much done when I decided to run a clean bore snake through the barrel, with a cotton patch on the end with some gun oil on it. I pulled it from the barrel end, and it pretty quickly became hard to pull. So I pulled harder. And harder. Pretty soon nothing could make it move. The back end of the bore snake was well and truly stuck a few inches north of the breech end of the rifle.

OK, that can happen to anyone, I guess. But now comes the best part. Not content with getting it stuck at the breech, I decided, for reasons which even now escape me - fatigue, not thinking, stupidity, take your pick - to cut if off at the muzzle, and then to try to push it down from the muzzle end using a cleaning rod. Well, if you ever used a bore snake, you know it’s a braided fabric, and when you push on it, it “compresses.” So I accomplished nothing. Oh, that's not quite true. I did accomplish something. I got it well and truly stuck at the muzzle end as well.

At this point I stopped to think. Likely should have done that before, but there you are. And tried anything I could think of, up to and including a crochet hook, to try to get this thing to move. No success. Either end.

Now you have to understand that I loved this rifle from the moment I set eyes on it. The thought of doing something like this to something I loved hit hard. But I did it.

The next step was to take the rifle to my local gunsmith, who knows the maker well. He told me not to worry; he’d seen it before. Right. Nice guy, but seemed to lack conviction on that point.

He told me to leave it with him overnight and he would call me in the morning. No mention of aspirin, but I took a couple anyway.

Next day he called, and told me he had tried every trick he had, but couldn’t get it out. The last resort would be to heat the barrel and melt the bore snake. The upside was it might work. The downside was it would cause all of the hardware soldered onto the barrel to come off. I was appalled at the thought. I told him not to do anything, and I would speak to the maker.

Time for confession. I hadn’t wanted to tell Ralf Martini how I had treated his creation, but I now had no choice. I sent him an email, and explained the facts.

He quickly replied, telling me he was in Germany, but would be home in three days. He told me not to worry; he had seen the same thing before (why is it that whenever you do something stupid, people think you will feel better knowing that you are one of a crowd of stupid people?). He asked me to get the rifle to him, and in the meantime, not to let anyone touch it.

Ralf lives about 300 miles from me, and I set out in three days to drive the rifle to him in person. When I got to his shop, he looked at it, again told me not to worry, and told me that he had some ideas. He had to repair the leather recoil pad anyway, so he told me to leave the gun with him and he would let me know what was happening the next day. So I drove back home, feeling not much brighter, but a little better.

Then no word from Ralf for a week. I was too worried to send an email. Finally, after seven days, he replied. He started by saying none of his tricks had worked, and he had never seen something stuck as badly as this. Nice to know that in the bad idea sweepstakes, I win. He finally had to create a special bore drill, with brass bushings on it to protect the bore. And that had worked. He had checked the barrel with a camera, and had fired the gun, and all was well.

A huge relief. And that’s how I came to have my rifle for this hunt.

Ammo: I’m taking 80 Barnes VOR-TX 180 grain cartridges. I don’t expect to need nearly that many, but I would never want to run out. I’ve had some issues with the Barnes lately, and I think they’ve had some quality control challenges, but I’m hopeful that I’ll get the performance that made this my go-to ammo.

Flights: I booked my flights some time ago. My travel agent contacted me to tell me there was a sale on business class, so I jumped on it. I thought about the routing, and decided to fly through Frankfurt. I can fly non-stop to Frankfurt, have about a 7-hour layover (in a lounge with a shower) and then a flight to ADD, which gets me in at 6 am. The drive to the base camp is about 7 hours, and is only done in daylight, so if you come in much past noon, you need to spend the night in Addis. This routing eliminates the need for a hotel.

Canadian Permits: I applied for my export permits for the firearm, scope and the ammunition a few months ago, and received those quickly, so all set on that front.

Pharmacy: I still need to visit my doctor to get the pharmacy I like to take on trips to countries other than South Africa. Here, I will need Malarone for malaria, which is endemic in Ethiopia. I also take along a course of Cipro (ciprofloxacin) as a general antibiotic, as well as two other antibiotics - levofloxacin and doxycycline, which are the standard treatment for tick bite fever (which I have had once before). If I’m feeling risk averse, I add a course of Keflex, which is great for skin infections. I also take about a dozen of the Canadian version of Ambien. I can't sleep on airplanes, and these help. But don't take two.

I got my yellow fever vaccine a couple of years ago, which is required to enter Ethiopia, and all of my other vaccinations are up to date. I will get a booster of Dukoral, for cholera and other intestinal diseases, even though there’s some skepticism about its value.

My experience with access to prescriptions drugs in Africa is that you can usually find whatever you need in most big cities, but in many countries, you will be some distance and perhaps some days away from big cities. And outside of those big cities you generally can’t find anything. So I like to be prepared.

Communication. I don’t usually bring anything other than my cell phone, and rely on wireless internet to stay in touch. That tends to work in most camps, which have access to the internet. I’m not sure about the fly camps we will be in while we look for the Nyala - I think they rely on sat phones. So a question I need to answer is whether I bring along something like a Spot to at least be able to communicate in case of an emergency. Still need to do some research on this.

Camera. I was going bring a small Lumix digital camera, which takes hardly any room and pretty good pictures. But I’ve been thinking that something with inter-changeable lenses might be a better choice. There are nice mirrorless cameras that are lighter than SLRs, though these still take up some room. I was thinking about this, and then decided to go ahead and get a bit of a fancier rig. I just bought a smallish Sony a6300, with two lenses – 16-50mm and 55-210mm. Now if only it came with a manual.

My Zimbabwean agent, who booked this hunt, and with whom I’ve hunted more times than I can recall (he’s a Zim PH) is coming along, and he’s bringing a Sony handycam to video the hunt. That means I will bring my computer to download the files, although to save weight, I may just take a portable hard drive.

Other than my clothing and boots, all of which have travelled with me before, I think that’s about it. I’m pretty much ready.

And every time I say that, I forget something.

 

[gizmo]

Wow Hank, what an epic adventure you will have. Take lots and lots of pics so you can post them here for us! Good luck and God's Speed

 

[sierraone]

When this book is published, I will send you my copy for an autograph! You should sell enough to make another trip to another outside the box hunting destination!

 

[rinehart0050]

I know you've still got a few weeks- the anticipation must be getting pretty intense! Best of luck on your hunt!

Also, regarding a hard drive. I picked up one of these 2 TB WD Passports. They have an SD card reader built in, battery built in, and wifi built in- You can just plug in an SD card (or micro SD with adapter) and it will automatically download the content. On my last safari, I brought this. It allowed both me and my cameraman to download all video/pictures to one device.

Here's a link: https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Wir...1-2-spell&keywords=2tb+wifi+eternal+harddrive

 

[cpr0312]

Looking forward to the next installment

 

[Hank2211]

I know you've still got a few weeks- the anticipation must be getting pretty intense! Best of luck on your hunt!

Also, regarding a hard drive. I picked up one of these 2 TB WD Passports. They have an SD card reader built in, battery built in, and wifi built in- You can just plug in an SD card (or micro SD with adapter) and it will automatically download the content. On my last safari, I brought this. It allowed both me and my cameraman to download all video/pictures to one device.

Here's a link: https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Wir...1-2-spell&keywords=2tb+wifi+eternal+harddrive

Thanks Rhinehart - I'll look into that. Looks neat!

 

[thi9elsp]

@Hank2211

Hank, With all of the dust, dirt, moisture, etc. you probably won't want to change a lens - you need special cleaning tools for the sensors inside. I suggest you install the 55-210 and plan to use it for all of your pictures. The other lens would mostly be good for really close ups of detail on flowers, bugs, etc. I think Ann has a Nikon 70-200 on her DSLR and that was the only lens she used in Zimbabwe, Iceland, Paris, and New Zealand. I think around 12 mega pixels. She took a photo of a zebra at 150 - 200 yards. And, was then was able in iPhoto to zoom in and just show its face.

Thanks for all of the details - I've gone through most of the same in preparation for Mozambique in 3 weeks. And, I've gotten cleaning brushes stuck in a barrel. Fortunately, I could unscrew the snake or rod and then take a wooden dowel and lightly tap it out.

John

 

[BRICKBURN]

Nothing like a good scare to start any Safari off. Ouch.

I appreciate the "mechanics" of the trip.

I see you have already got some suggestions on the hard drive issue.
Another option for storage is a heap of SD cards.
I like the double up for safety on pictures. After having lost a bunch from the last trip I will be more paranoid in the future.

 

[thi9elsp]

@BRICKBURN good call on the SD cards. Ann is bringing 6 with us for Mozambique and purchased a little case that holds all of them together. Hopefully, that keeps them from getting lost. We'll still download to the laptop/hard drive, but....

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Backing up data should be part of the routing while on such an incredible journey... and while traveling the backed up data should be separately packed in your suitcase while the original content should be on your person or carry on. Having the same data packed in one place would do no good.

 

[Hank2211]

Another option for storage is a heap of SD cards.

Backing up data should be part of the routing while on such an incredible journey... and while traveling the backed up data should be separately packed in your suitcase while the original content should be on your person or carry on. Having the same data packed in one place would do no good.

Like the gun thing, I always have good intentions . . . and then forget. NOT THIS TIME.

 

[Nyati]

This looks like a great experience, Hank, wish you the best !

 

[Redruff]

Hank,

Here's to your best adventure yet!

Best of luck.

R.

 

[BRICKBURN]

................ Departure date for that hunt is November 2, 2016. This is about that hunt.
...............

With the snow sticking to the ground this morning, I'll bet you are ready to go.